Ask Not What Additive Manufacturing Can Do For You...

Abstract

The paraphrase of John F Kennedy’s famous words is for 2 purposes. Firstly it is to acknowledge that there are some people who have considered that it is a major part of their life’s work to promote Additive Manufacturing (AM) technology as primarily a selfless act. AM comprises an outstanding range of technology that should be brought to public attention as a true revolution in how we design and manufacture products. The second purpose is to show that technology development is only one part of this promotion process and that there are other ways in which we can get involved. This paper describes the author’s journey over the (approximately) 20 years since he was introduced to what was then called Rapid Prototyping (RP). It is not a catalogue of research and development projects but rather a list of activities that he has been involved in to help promote and support AM technology over these years. It will describe the conferences, activities, associations and publications that have been created to allow academics and professionals to describe and discuss their work amongst themselves and to the larger society.